Autobayng News Team
This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
Here’s the report from first practice, led by Norris.
FP1 has finished and Lando Norris is fastest. Report to follow.
A strange incident at the end of the session as Verstappen has gone off after taking the chequered flag. He’s in the gravel at Tarzan. He seemed to just understeer wide as Russell did earlier. “I’m stuck,” he reports.
Russell understeers wide at Tarzan, cuts a path through the gravel and rejoins.
Now Stroll gets in Oliver Bearman’s way. “That was very dangerous from Stroll,” complains the Haas driver.
Tsunoda was the driver who aggravated Stroll.
Lance Stroll frustrated by being held up by a rival on the sweeping run towards Scheivlak.
The track is fairly quiet now. Norris, Piastri and Russell back out on their medium rubber. With rain forecast for the afternoon’s session this might be the best running they get. It will be particularly valuable for Mercedes as Russell’s team mate Antonelli hasn’t been able to run after going off earlier.
With just under 20 minutes to go, Verstappen pops in a 1’11.218 on softs to go fifth, just under a second off Norris.
Alonso gets closer to the McLarens with a 1’10.841, half a second down on Norris, also on softs.
Piastri chips a tenth of a second off his time, stays second but is now within three tenths of a second of his team mate.
There’s a lot of dust at the exit of turn 10. Tsunoda kicks it up as he goes only 18th with his first run on softs, two-and-a-half seconds off Norris.
Carlos Sainz Jnr gets closer than Hulkenberg, he’s 1.2s off Norris. The Ferraris are no closer than either of them, Charles Leclerc ahead of Hamilton in fifth.
Nico Hulkenberg goes for the softs but ends up almost 1.6 seconds slower than Norris, in third.
Norris switches to softs and find a huge amount of time, lapping in 1’10.278 which puts him one-and-a-half seconds ahead of the runners on mediums. Piastri also does a run on softs but is four tenths of a second off his team mate.
Sainz is the next driver to plunge through the gravel at Hans Ernst Bocht.
The drivers head back out, George Russell leading Lando Norris, Gabriel Bortoleto, Sainz and Fernando Alonso.
Max Verstappen leads the times with a 1’12.101, 0.331s ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr.
Yuki Tsunoda also had a spin at the Hans Ernst Bocht and managed to get going again after churning through a lot of gravel. His team mate complains about the gravel he’s left at the corner.
Replays show Antonelli simply understeered wide at turn nine.
Now Andrea Kimi Antonelli has gone off in the Mercedes and he appears to be stuck in a gravel trap. Red flags.
Lewis Hamilton has a dramatic 360-degree spin coming out of the Gerlachbocht but gathers up the Ferrari without hitting anything. He reports flat-spots on all his tyres, however.
Alexander Albon goes quickest with a 1’12.457 despite having to pick his way through a lot of traffic.
All drivers are running the medium rubber to begin with. Oscar Piastri sets the initial pace with a 1’12.678, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Max Verstappen.
The session has begun with a Virtual Safety Car period.
Rain has been threatening but race control declares there is no chance of any falling during the first hour of practice.
There will be one other changed car on the track this weekend – Aston Martin has upgraded its Vantage Safety Car to a Vantage S. Details and pictures here.
Red Bull is one of just three teams to have brought updates for their car at Zandvoort. They have a revised front wing to suit the track. Alpine and Sauber both have minor revision to their rear brake ducts.
With the summer break behind us, it’s clear the Formula 1 teams are focussing more on their cars for next year – when radical new technical rules will arrive – than their current machines. McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Haas, Racing Bulls and Williams are all without updates this weekend.
The first practice session for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix is coming up next.
